The Queen of the Damned Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)February 27th, 2002
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: The production design is stronger than the
writing in this short version of multiple Anne Rice
novels. What was probably impressive in the books
looks overwrought on the screen. And the funny Eastern European accents for people not from that part of the
world seem a little off-putting. Rating: 4 (0 to 10), 0 (-4 to +4)
There are not a whole lot of accolades to be apportioned for QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. I will say at the front that Graham Walker's production design with Tom Nursey's art direction is the high point of this film. Most sets seem to be about as impressive as could be hoped for. This is a film that looks a lot better than it plays. This is true even in spite of some overly familiar camera tricks by cinematographer Ian Baker. Disorienting the viewer by pulling back the camera and zooming forward with the lens dates back to VERTIGO and JAWS. It feels like an artificial trick in Baker's hands. So does filming action scenes at fewer than 24 frames per second and holding each frame longer. Frequently when a film looks better than it plays it is a sign that the target audience is music video fans. And there are other such signs in the film.
The best I can say for Scott Abbott's and Michael Petroni's screenplay is that an attempt to adapt multiple thick novels into a single film is ambitious. That they failed to do justice to adapting at least two longish novels to a screenplay of about 100 pages is hardly surprising. But even given the ambitiousness of the project they might have done a better job.
Up front the chief problem with this film is that it fails to produce a sense of awe. Part of the problem I suppose is that Anne Rice's novels are about characters and events of mythic proportions, but they have to be portrayed on the screen with real people. For additional identification from the young audience QUEEN OF THE DAMNED has most of the Rice characters played by young actors who do no have the talent yet to appear as commanding presences on the screen. When you have the great Ancient Egyptian sorceress--the founder of vampirism and monarch of all vampires-- look like a college co-ed dressed for a Halloween frat party, audiences are going to have a hard time taking your film seriously. Read the book and your mind's eye creates Queen Akasha in all her majesty. The screen realization has to compete with that. Epic battles of vampires look great in the imagination, but rather silly on the wide screen.
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED tells us more about the life (or un-life) of the Vampire Lestat (Stuart Townsend in the role previously played with unexpected flair by Tom Cruise). Lestat has retreated from the world for a long hibernation in his coffin, but is roused and seduced by the sound of rock music. Within months Lestat is a rock star. Now his tastes were formed on 18th century French music but rock apparently appeal to him and he quickly is a master. While this may initially strike the viewer at "tripe," on reflection a far better word is "balderdash." Lestat hide his vampiric nature by posing as a human posing as a vampire and hiding his identity by renaming his band "The Vampire Lestat." This enrages other vampires because he is giving away vampire secrets in song lyrics. He arouses the curiosity of a Jesse Reeves (Marguerite Moreau), a minor functionary of a centuries old society of vampire hunters, the Talamasca. Complicating matters is that Marius (Vincent Perez), the vampire who first bit Lestat is still around and harboring the remains of the first vampire, Queen Akasha (played by the late Aaliyah), a sorceress going back to Ancient Egypt. This is a film with no shortage of plot lines.
Under Michael Rymer's direction one of the small virtues is that even though there are battles, the are visualized with little or no martial arts. These are not Buffy-style demons who can be dispatched with anything so trivial as a well-placed kung fu kick. Different mystical, and perhaps silly, rules determine the vulnerabilities of these supernatural creatures. The script assumes you can pick up the rules of vampires from context or already know them from reading the Rice novels. Little effort is spent in dialog explanations. Time is spent in a little over the top romance between Lestat and Reeves including a romantic flight much like the one in SUPERMAN: THE MOTION PICTURE. There are large logic holes as when vampires angry that Lestat may be revealing the secret that vampires exist, physically attack him with vampire powers in the most indiscreet venue the film can manage.
Several scenes just needed logic checks. At one point Lestat is playing the violin and loses his grip on the bow, accidentally shooting it across the room. No decent violin player could play if he held the bow that loosely. The vampires come from different parts of the world. Lestat is a French noble, the title character is an Egyptian princess. Yet all vampires seem to talk with vaguely Eastern European accents. There is no explanation offered for this. Acting seems over the top in an apparent attempt to add weight and drama to the proceedings.
This is the kind of film that perhaps should be watched with the sound off. It may just indicate that INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE is the only book in Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" conservative enough to translate well to the screen. I rate QUEEN OF THE DAMNED a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected] Copyright 2002 Mark R. Leeper
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